India’s new suicide crisis: Poll workers take lives amid voter recount rush

Al JazeeraCenterEN 8 min read 100% complete by Sumaiya AliDecember 17, 2025 at 06:30 AM

AI Summary

long article 8 min

Since November 4, 2025, at least 33 election officials in India have died, many by suicide, amid a nationwide Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. The SIR, launched by the Election Commission of India across 12 states and territories, aims to update voter lists through house-to-house enumeration. Booth-level officers (BLOs), primarily government teachers and junior officials, are responsible for identifying voters, collecting documents, and uploading data. Reports indicate that the BLOs face immense work pressure, with mistakes requiring the entire process to be repeated. A New Delhi-based think tank, the Spect Foundation, reported at least nine BLOs died by suicide, citing work pressure in their suicide notes.

Key Entities & Roles

Key Player Opposition Context

Harshit Verma 30% Vijay Kumar Verma ×240% Uttar Pradesh ×250% India ×670% Election Commission of India ×480%

Keywords

suicide 90% election officials 80% electoral rolls 80% work pressure 70% voter list revision 70% booth-level officer 60% election commission of india 60% india 60% special intensive revision 50% government teachers 40%

Sentiment Analysis

Very Negative

Score: -0.70

Source Transparency

Source

Al Jazeera

Political Lean

Center (0.00)

Far LeftCenterFar Right

Classification Confidence

90%

Geographic Perspective

India

This article was automatically classified using rule-based analysis. The political bias score ranges from -1 (far left) to +1 (far right).

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suicide election officials electoral rolls work pressure voter list revision booth-level officer election commission of india india special intensive revision government teachers

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